Mine-catcher.



K. KENDRICK & J. W. HALTERMAN.

MINE CATCHER.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 5. 1914..

1,138,225. Patnted May4,1915.

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JAMES KING KENDRICK AND JOHN WESLEY HALTERMAN, OF WILLOWS, CALIFORNIA.

MINE-CATCHER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 5, 1914. Serial No. 875,647.

citizens of the United States, residing at' Villows, in the county of Glenn State of California, United States of America, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Mine-Catchers; and we do declare the following to be a clear, full, and exact m description of the same, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and to the characters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this application.

This invention relates to improvements in appliances and paraphernalia for use on vessels, particularly war vessels and the like which are plying through hostile waters in the time of war, the object of the invention being to produce an appliance or attachment,

for. such vessels which will move in advance of the bow of the vessel and encounter and catch'any hidden mines or other explosives which under ordinary circumstances would explode and destroy the vessel if encountered by the vessel'itself.

The invention provides the catcher to so either eaten and hold the mine or explode it in advance of the vessel so as to.work no injury either to the vessel or its occupants.

A further objei-f. of the invention is to produce a simple and inexpensive device and yet 85 one which will be exceedingly effective for the purposes for which it is designed.

These objects, we accomplish by means of such structure and relative arrangement of the parts as will fully appear by a perusal of the'following specification and claims.

On the drawings, similar characters of.

' reference indicate corresponding parts in the several views.

Figure 1 is a fragmentary View of the bow at of a vessel showing our improved appliance connected thereon. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same showing a mine being approached by the mine catcheri Fig.3 is a sectional view taken on a line of Fig. 2.- r

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on the drawings, the numeral 1 designates the vessel.

In applying our improved device, we first provide two beams 2 and 3 pivotally mounted, as ate-and 5, on each side of the bow of the vessel 1. These beams project outwardly 1n advance of the vessel any suitable or de-- sired distance and at their outer ends sup port a plurality of air tight floats or buoys 6. The members 2 and 3 are pivotallyconnected with the end buoys 6 and such buoys 6 are all flexibly connected with each-other by means of connecting links 7 pivotally connected with each other and the buoys 6 to compensate for the unequal movement of the same due to the rolling of the waves. A capstan 9 is mounted on the vessel 1 and a cable 10 projects from said capstan over a pulley 11 disposed on each of the members 6, each cable being provided with a chain or other connecting means 12 on its lower end by means of which it is connected with bifurcated members 13 suspended on which is a rectangular frame let provided along its front edge with a plurality of projecting teeth 15. In practice, by means of the movement of the capstan 9, the cables 10 may be moved to raise or lower the member 14: to any suitable depth beneath the water 16 at which depth it will be held by reason of being suspended over the buoys 6. Then with the advance of the vessel, when a mine 17 is anchored within the path of such vessel, the catching teeth 15 will catch the supporting cable of said mine and either drag up the mine or explode Patented May 4, 1915. l

it in advance of the vessel, which explosion would do no more harm than to destroy the catching appliance above described and would leave the vessel and its occupants unharmed. By means of the pivotal supportbe raised or lowered at will.

From the foregoing description it will readily be seen that we have produced a durable, simple and effective mine catcher which can be ap lied with but very little expense to a vessel and at the same time act as a safety appliance to prevent the destruction of a vessel itself by mines or other explosives.

It will further be seen that we have produced such a device as substantially fulfils p the objects of the invention as set forth herein.

lWhile this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferred construction of the device, still in practice, such deviations ing beams 2 and 3, the entire appliance may from such detail may be resorted to as do form a-departurefrom thespirit of the in vention as defined by the appended claims.

N Having thus described our inventibn what We claim as new and useful and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 2- l. A device of the character described comprising the combination with a vessel, of a supporting means mounted on said vessel and extending outwardly therefrom, a float structure carried by said supporting means and a rake mechanism suspended from said float structure, as described.

2. A device of the character described comprising the combination with a vessel, of a supporting means projecting outwardly therefrom, a plurality of floats carried by Gopies of this patent may be obtained for said supporting structure and flexibly connected with each other, a rake structure suspended from said floats, and means for adjustingithe position of said rake structure with respect to said floats, as described.

In testimony whereof We aiiix our signatures in presence of two Witnesses.

JAMES KING KENDRICK. JOHN WESLEY HATJTERMAN.

Witnesses:

FLoyn M. BLANCHARD, MABEL Gr. BOARD.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, "J. G. 

